San Diego’s Lincoln Club Tells Nathan Fletcher Not to Care About Black Lives Or Autocratic Presidents
“Supported by the Lincoln Club” should be right up there with “Endorsed by the KKK.”
This is a story about something that happened on Twitter on Monday evening. It proves beyond a doubt that the crisis of authoritarianism the country faces goes way beyond the Oval Office.
The economic and political infrastructure enabling the actions of the President must also be addressed. And the local entity supporting those policies with money and clout, namely the Lincoln Club of San Diego, has crawled out of their bunker to defend the President’s odious behavior.
County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher shared a news article saying that the Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Washington was "outraged" after President Donald Trump's visit to her church without advance notice to share "a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus."
In order to get to the Church in question, peaceful protesters just outside the White House gates were dispersed with tear gas, flash grenades and rubber bullets.
"I am outraged. The President did not pray when he came to St. John's, nor as you just articulated, did he acknowledge the agony of our country right now," Budde told CNN's Anderson Cooper on "AC360."
"And in particular, that of the people of color in our nation, who wonder if anyone ever -- anyone in public power will ever acknowledge their sacred words. And who are rightfully demanding an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country. And I just want the world to know, that we in the diocese of Washington, following Jesus and his way of love ... we distance ourselves from the incendiary language of this President. We follow someone who lived a life of nonviolence and sacrificial love."
Apparently, many San Diegans didn’t approve of that statement. I counted over 50 unfavorable responses to the Lincoln Club’s position.
Rather than eat up scrolling space by reposting them, I’ll just quote a few of the standouts.
I’m a constituent and I really care. He had civilians tear gassed and beat up to take that photo. He had members of the church chased off their own patio in terror. Where is your outrage?
Lincoln Club, does your perpetual dumb-assery get exhausting? I honestly don't know how you do it.
I am his constituent and I care both about what the President said and our neighborhoods (our Gaslamp Quarter business is under threat). I can walk and chew gum at the same time.
We care about #GeorgeFloyd. Do you @LincolnClub? Say something in support of him. Say something about a man who died bc of a knee on his neck for 9 minutes. That's pain and destruction. What does your "club" stand for besides money and Trump?
The pain, destruction, and looting over the last 48 hours? They care about the pain, destruction, and looting that Black people in this country have been feeling the last 200 years. Check your privilege and sit down @LincolnClub.
I guess the thousands of San Diegans who came out, risking their life protesting racial inequality are just... what? Enjoying the outdoors during a pandemic?
I care that Trump ordered Federal Agents to attack law-abiding citizens for a photo op.
Oh we are woefully ignorant aren’t we. You just stepped in it. People do care how national politics influences and dictates local responsibility and leadership. You just made yourself a laughable joke in our local issues. What a disgrace to the San Diego community at large.
That you use "Lincoln" in your name & tweet this out is shameful. What Trump did today is WRONG. He's a weak, lawless, leader. Shame on you for abandoning every "principal" you've claimed to hold dear to date. 45* is not a real conservative & neither are you. #BeBetterAmerica
There is a lot of history going on behind this exchange. The Lincoln Club started out as the dressed up version of San Diego’s right/center-right. Mostly they fund candidates they deem to be pro-business.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher is considered a turncoat by those folks remaining active in local GOP politics. He was the fresh face/Marine Veteran in the State Assembly many thought was the future of the party.
Like many other Californians, Fletcher left the party as it moved hard to the right. The hard-core righties in local politics have ranted and raved ever since. The Lincoln Club spent considerable monies opposing Fletcher when he ran for County Supervisor and now can’t seem to get over the loss.
As County Supervisor, Fletcher has shown a knack for getting things done, despite being the only Democrat on the board. And his politics have come a long way towards progressivism over the past few years.
Despite this, there are some on the left who believe his former life as a Republican makes Fletcher irredeemable. I say “hogwash.”
If there was ever a time for a united front, especially given that Fletcher isn’t up for re-election in this cycle, this is it.
I don’t usually feel compelled to quote George Will and other never-Trumpers, simply because I remember their complacency about many past actions contributing to the crisis our democracy is facing. His column in today’s Washington Post, however, is worth quoting if you are of the mind that housecleaning is in order.
The nation’s downward spiral into acrimony and sporadic anarchy has had many causes much larger than the small man who is the great exacerbator of them. Most of the causes predate his presidency, and most will survive its January terminus. The measures necessary for restoration of national equilibrium are many and will be protracted far beyond his removal.
One such measure must be the removal of those in Congress who, unlike the sycophantic mediocrities who cosset him in the White House, will not disappear “magically,” as Eric Trump said the coronavirus would. Voters must dispatch his congressional enablers, especially the senators who still gambol around his ankles with a canine hunger for petting.
In life’s unforgiving arithmetic, we are the sum of our choices. Congressional Republicans have made theirs for more than 1,200 days. We cannot know all the measures necessary to restore the nation’s domestic health and international standing, but we know the first step: Senate Republicans must be routed, as condign punishment for their Vichyite collaboration, leaving the Republican remnant to wonder: Was it sensible to sacrifice dignity, such as it ever was, and to shed principles, if convictions so easily jettisoned could be dignified as principles, for . . . what? Praying people should pray, and all others should hope: May I never crave anything as much as these people crave membership in the world’s most risible deliberative body.
Just as conservatives like George Will have called for those who have abetted the current regime to be removed by voters come November, San Diegans should take a look at the financiers backing the Lincoln Club.
Their toxic endeavors need to become a third rail for up and coming candidates for office. “Supported by the Lincoln Club” should be right up there with “endorsed by the KKK.”
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There was some good news locally on Monday. Local activists who have been advocating for policing reforms won two victories as the SDPD announced the discontinuance of choke holds as a restraining measure, and our Republican Mayor came out and endorsed an upcoming ballot measure creating a civilian mechanism.
But before anybody breaks out the champagne, realize these are only first steps. The SD Police Officers Association--despite being invited to the table to discuss reforms--has worked behind the scenes to undermine all these efforts.
The City of San Diego, led by the same Mayor who now says he’s in favor of additional reform, cut the existing (toothless) Citizens Review Board's only staffer a couple months ago.
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Reminder-- This week is the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. After weeks of peaceful protests, authorities sent in the military to crush the protests.
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Another thought-- San Francisco SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin, along with his predecessor/Los Angeles DA candidate George Gascón and other California prosecutors have called on the State Bar to ban law enforcement union campaign contributions and endorsements in district attorney races. The LA Times thinks this might be a good idea, though I’m not sure how well it would stand up in the courts.
Talentless Entitleds vs the Have Nots
Finally, this quote from Mesrine Malek in the Guardian, although it was made in reference to the situation in Great Britain, struck me as relevant to our current situation in the United States:
If there was any doubt about the true nature of this government, it has now been erased: the country is run by a small, tight-knit group of arrogant and talentless entitleds. Apart from riding the public to office, they have no interest in our safety – or our respect. We must do our duty and submit, because these are the new pandemic rules, stripped back to an essence that in normal times would be more carefully obscured. In short: know your place.
Any illusions that we were ever protected from the rank contempt of our rulers by the logic of democracy – because the government embodies the will of the people who elected it – are now gone. Their only concern was for the will that brought them to power. And now, many more protections that we imagined were still in place – from unemployment, from homelessness, from risks to our health in the workplace – will crumble into dust, as our society splits even more decisively into a small group of winners and a large mass of losers.
Divisions are becoming more exposed each week. Already the labour force has become divided between those who can work from home and those who must go out and be on the frontline of the government’s experiment in easing the lockdown; between those who can continue to cocoon and those who cannot afford to, because they are paid for piecework for each physical task – a clean house, a day on a construction site, a hot meal delivered to your door.
Be safe. Don’t forget to wash your hands. And keep protesting in every way you can.
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Lead image via JimFlanigan.com